Old Police Cells Museum ghost hunt – 01-02-2014

The Old Police Cells Museum 1st February 2014
Brighton, East Sussex

On the previous two occasions that we have visited the Old Police Cells the activity has been really great but sporadic with some people getting lots more activity than others and different rooms having different sensations.

However this evening that changed for the better, lots of activity was experienced by the guests in all areas, albeit some of the activity was exceptional.

I had chosen the sub-sub-basement for two reasons, firstly this was the most interesting area to me as it is quite a big space and there are quite a few “active” areas and secondly it was also the coolest area, the temperature down here was a pleasant 15 degrees Celsius. Upstairs it was closer to 25.

On previous occasions there have been two areas where guests have stood on their own and unusual things have happened to them, nothing sinister but also unexpected. I held all my sessions in this area.

The spirit that we present here remained throughout the whole evening with every group, one was a male spirit energy called Tommy in his late-30s who was about 5’10” in height. He also wore a “warehouse” style brown three-quarter length jacket and seemed to be from the early 1900s. He never actually told me the year but I assumed this based on the way he spoke and acted.

The second was a very well dressed man with a large stature, he never told me his name, as he seemed disinterested in telling me. He was about 6’ in height and of a portly build, and he had a full length bushy beard. Wearing a smart three piece black suit, he had the air of authority about him and at first I thought he was a councillor however it later transpired he was a council solicitor who wrote law reports and documents for the council. The area in which we were standing was where all the law report books were stored, some dating back to the early 1800s.

The first group to this area we started a séance circle and almost immediately after I asked for Tommy to move us in some way, Mark (guest) was pushed backwards against the shelving and he stated that he could not lift himself back upright. At around the same time both of my hands started to lift (which is nothing unusual, as spirit usually start with me) Jeanette (guest) however was not expecting this as she was holding my right hand. Kerry (GHE team) who was on my left wasn’t surprised and very quickly Tommy was able to move our arms into more uncomfortable positions!

As Tommy became more confident and more adept at moving us he progressed the activity around the circle with other guests having their hands moved or being gently swayed or rocked, some people were pushed backwards into more of the book shelves.

Whilst all this was happening several of us heard some odd noises, these ranged from footfall sounds to the sound of various things being clicked or dropped and one particularly loud noise which everyone heard, sounded like a pebble being rolled across the floor.

Several times the two people either side of me were dragged (by our arms) to the floor and my hands being dragged across the floor, fortunately there was (this time) a piece of paper on the floor which protected my knuckles from scraping across the floor.

Carl (GHE Team & Camera) was supposed to be filming this session but due to a problem with the camera it just didn’t want to work, so Carl was standing at the end of the shelving looked back towards us. Many time he heard the sound of something around him and every time this was due to the well-dressed solicitor spirit. On one occasion Carl felt a prod in the back of neck. This is something which has happened to other guests who have stood in this spot on previous investigations.

After we finished the séance I asked everyone to stand in between the book shelves as on previous occasions people have felt physical sensations. It is always much better in my opinion when people are not part of a séance circle to be touched or moved as the guests generally cannot find any logical reason for this.

Those guests who stood with their backs near to the wall facing out all felt the same sensation. This was the sensation of being pulled back which can be quite unnerving when standing in total darkness!

Whilst the guests were taking turns to stand in these areas noises kept being heard from the only entrance to this room. It was unfortunate that this wasn’t recorded but this is relatively normal, when good activity happens it is rare to have it filmed.

The second group to this area, we started the séance circle in much the same area, Tommy once again joined us very quickly as did the Solicitor spirit, although he stood closer this time. The two people standing either side of me (both called Emma) felt their arms being gently lifted which surprised them both a little as neither was expecting this to happen so quickly. This very quickly progressed around certain people in the circle and then Tommy started to rock, sway and push people which they were not expecting because all of sudden people would feel their balance go and then would fall into the person standing next to them.

Once again some of the guests were pushed backwards into the book shelves and Emma (the one on my right) was dragged by our arms to the floor again, however this time the sheet of paper wasn’t underneath my hand and my knuckles were dragged across the floor. This wasn’t painful to start with but became painful!

Tommy quickly tired of trying to move some people, however the Solicitor chap stepped in and started to move my arm in a purposeful method (Emma, on the right). I asked the guests to then use our arms as a pointer to ask simple yes and no questions. So a yes was pointing at one person, a no another person.

Several questions were asked by the guests and this is when it transpired that this spirit was a Solicitor, he also didn’t like his job as he found it boring. We also found out that he was a local man who in his day lived in the countryside (now this is part of Brighton) and that he was married and had two boys. Apparently he lived a happy life, but just didn’t enjoy his job.

After quickly looking through the wash room area so that the guests could read some of the macabre stories about the Museum and the murders and criminals who were imprisoned here we finished the session.

The third group, who have attended numerous ghost hunts with us and are collectively called “The Boo Club” I didn’t need to explain what we were about to do. However several people who will remain anonymous were very jumpy looking down to the entrance of the room, they kept saying that it “freaked them out” and none of them really wanted to stand with their backs to the doorway. Both spirits were still present and very quickly started to move and lift our arms, some of the positions were more painful than others and the spirit were able to move the majority of people. Rusty (guest & new member of the Boo Club) stood next to me because he wanted to experience the movements, the rest of the guests had no problem with this as they knew what was going to happen!

Very quickly the whole group were being manipulated and arms twisted and entangled with each other and people forced to move into extremely painful positions, at one point two guests (who usually stand together, Mark & Darren) who this time stood far away from each other each ended up on the floor, both of them were pushed down wards by their heads and both at one point but at different times had their heads touching the floor. Several times various people were pushed into others and at one point most of us were on the floor on top of someone else, this proved to be a lot of amusement for Carl (who was now successfully filming) and the two spirit energies.

In a rare moment when were we all standing upright, after being pulled one by one around the circle, we all heard a loud crash of paperwork, everyone in the room was suddenly very awake and alert and Carl was swearing. This was because a box file of paperwork which was on the top shelf above Carl suddenly fell or jumped from its position on the shelf and landed on the opposite side on the gangway (so really not a fall, as things don’t fall in arcs, unless pushed). Even though it happened in front of Carl it wasn’t recorded because the box file fell above the camera’s view point. Which is a great shame, but you can definitely hear the sound and the resulting swearing on the video!

After we finished getting up from the floor for the fifth or sixth time, I suggested that people stand at the end of the gangways to see if something would happen to them, like the first group. The majority of people who stood in a particular spot all got pushed or pulled, some quite violently, which did unnerve them.

After briefly spending time in the washroom part of this area, as there was a spirit in the wash rooms who didn’t like us and impolitely asked us to leave. He was a Policeman from the 1970s who seemed to have the belief that he was a Policeman “do as I say” not “what I do” personality.

After our controlled sessions finished all guests were allowed then to venture throughout the building and hold their own ghost hunt or participate in activities they enjoyed during our controlled sessions and as always we let them use our ghost hunting equipment.

This was a very enjoyable ghost hunt with the majority of the guests having some form of physical paranormal activity happen to them.